Camera's - people that ride/school alone.

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dorsetladette

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For people that ride alone the majority of the time. Do you record yourself riding? If so, what cameras do you use?

I do everything 95% of the time On my own. I know what my horse feels like when he's going well but often my position isn't the best.

I can't put mirrors up as I ride in the field. I have built a 20x30 area to ride. So I was thinking I could film myself and watch it back. I know it doesn't beat someone on the ground and when the weather is better I will get an instructor in but at the moment the weather is to hit and miss without an arena.
 
I occasionally drag my non-horsey partner with me who films me but actually I'm slowly managing to train him to shout at me when I do things. My big thing is looking at the horse/jump and not up where I'm going.
So if you have the opportunity, don't discount non-horsey observers too.
 
I haven’t done for ages, but a few years ago I bought a cheap little go-pro type thing from The Range. I think they still do them. I then managed to attach it to a big bulldog clip type thing that I can clip over the manège fence. It doesn’t film the whole menege, but covers a large portion of it. The picture quality isn’t amazing but for just tracking progress it is fine. I can then upload the footage to my computer.
Think the camera cost me £30.
 
I have an old video camera which I shove on the fence. It was about £450 9 years ago, and is very good considering its age and hard life. You can get similar models on ebay for a fraction of that now. I can't remember if it's a Sony or a Samsung off the top of my head though. I also have a fake go pro, which works fine doing the same job, but the quality is obviously much lower.
 
I have an older video camera and a tripod that I put in one corner of the school. It unfortunately doesnt follow me about so I do miss some stuff but the cameras that follow you look great but are expensive. Hopefully as the technology moves on the will become more easily attainable!
 
I have a fairly old camcorder and either a little bendy tripod to fix it to the fence, or a proper one that I can mount further away to get the view of the full arena. the big tripod is older than me, it was my dad's when he was into photography but the mount for cameras hasn't changed :p Like JFTD's my camera has done good service over the years and it's good to hand to someone to do proper filming if I get the chance :)
 
bouncing_ball said:
I’d guess you’ve not done a comparison with actual go pro camera.
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yup, well the cheaper versions which everyone is talking about. They aren't comparable. They might be if I spent hundreds on a top spec one, but theres zero chance of that happening. I'm waiting until the tripods that allow the camera to follow you, come down in price, thats a far better buy from my point of view.
 
Leo Walker said:
yup, well the cheaper versions which everyone is talking about. They aren't comparable. They might be if I spent hundreds on a top spec one, but theres zero chance of that happening. I'm waiting until the tripods that allow the camera to follow you, come down in price, thats a far better buy from my point of view.
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I think also, the technology just isn't good enough yet. If they were that good and reliable, they would be more popular and probably come down in price. I'm waiting for the competent parts to be available so my electrical engineer OH can make me one ?
 
@dorsetladette

I use the Kaiser Baas x250 Action Camera. It was of a friend. But she did say that it is affordable! And it amazing quality.
Then maybe the "put your phone on the side of somewhere" maybe a good option too?!

Good Luck
 
Leo Walker said:
yup, well the cheaper versions which everyone is talking about. They aren't comparable. They might be if I spent hundreds on a top spec one, but theres zero chance of that happening. I'm waiting until the tripods that allow the camera to follow you, come down in price, thats a far better buy from my point of view.
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I bought a second hand Go Pro Hero 4 for £75 and the quality is amazing. Really good value IMO.

I’ve been waiting re follow you and hasnt really progressed much in lower cost or reliability.
 
I've got a small tripod that I got from Amazon for about £15, it came with a remote that bluetooths to my phone camera so I just turn the automatic locking on my phone off, set up the tripod and phone ready to video then when I want to all I have to do is press the button in my pocked

Side note: don't use if it's windy, it will fall into the arena and you may experience side effects of flying across the arena, dragon sorting, prancing, a 180 spin. I got the 180 spin, flew across the arena with a shoulder drop added into the end ?
 
I too hack alone and school whilst riding out; and - oh dear, I can't help it!! - if I'm riding past people's houses I'm a terribly sinful person and use their windows to gawp at my reflection there to check my position and horse's way of going! But I'm sure everyone on my route thinks I'm gawping into their houses!

Ohh dear!

Yes it's an awful habit I know; and I've tried to correct myself, but I just can't help it.......

Mea culpa.
 
I bought a tiny camera that sits on a fence post and records. It’s similar to a GoPro, and there are plenty on the market now that are very cheap. Mine is a Kogan 4K. Not the most brilliant quality but really works. I make sure that I do anything I want a closer look at down the arena end closer to the camera.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
I too hack alone and school whilst riding out; and - oh dear, I can't help it!! - if I'm riding past people's houses I'm a terribly sinful person and use their windows to gawp at my reflection there to check my position and horse's way of going! But I'm sure everyone on my route thinks I'm gawping into their houses!

Ohh dear!

Yes it's an awful habit I know; and I've tried to correct myself, but I just can't help it.......

Mea culpa.
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Don't all riders do that?! Surely we're not the only ones? There's a huge full-length (very reflective) window right next to the lane near us, but I do at least check they've got the blinds closed before I have a good gawp... *shuffles off feeling embarrassed*
 
Silver Clouds said:
Don't all riders do that?! Surely we're not the only ones? There's a huge full-length (very reflective) window right next to the lane near us, but I do at least check they've got the blinds closed before I have a good gawp... *shuffles off feeling embarrassed*
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I used too, but my hacking route goes past very few houses and they are all set to far back from the road for me to see myself in the windows.

Realistically I don't ride out as much as I should/would like to due to time constraints, so my riding is in the paddock mostly.
 
For a number of years I lived in an area with no coaches that could come to me, and none I wanted to haul to. So I invested in a Pixio Robot, with a Sony 350 Video camera. Expensive stuff - but I think if I add up the number of sessions I have filmed and watched back over the years, it has probably cost me less than the equivalent lessons would have done. I love my set up, typically I film myself about once a week, but if I have a particular issue I am working on I’ll film every day.
 
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